The Dwarven Effect
by defiasstone2
Summary: When a magical amulet is stolen from the ally of the realm of Loren, a hunter is dispatched to retrieve it by any means necessary. What started as a simple task however, will become a far greater tale after events unfold and a dwarf is dragged into the hunt as well...
1. Chapter 1: Setting the scene

Disclaimer: I Do not claim ownership of anything that is related to the Warhammer franchise, the locations or race etc etc. The Characters are my own creation however.

The Dwarven Effect:

The Story begins in the borders of the empire with the Bretonnian lands to the west. It is night time, and the focus is on a single figure, stalking through the forests of the region, hunting her prey.

Person Focus: Ionor Windfoot, Wood Elf of Loren

It was late, almost midnight and the two moons waxed in the sky, pale light providing the barest of vision. Ionor the wood elf had little time to ponder this however as she followed the tracks of her quarry through the forest. Suddenly she could see the light of a fire in the distance, and she paused momentarily, reaching back to grab the haft of one of her arrows, drawing it silently, the purpose grown wood supplied by one of the dryads, a spirit of the forest given physical form, before she had left on her mission out of her homeland of Loren, across the realm the race of men called Bretonnia and onto the border of the Empire. As she stalked closer she realised that she was approaching a small clearing, and that those in it certainly looked like her quarry. The half a dozen men before her were the ones she had been tracking, responsible for the murder of the human sage Bartimeus and the theft of his amulet, a powerful artefact and gift from Orion himself that had allowed the wizard to live to the age of 140 before he was killed. Bartimeus had been a great ally of Loren, to the point that he had been allowed to construct an earthen tower amongst the outermost glades of the southern realm, and in return helped to protect the woodland realm from outside attack, both magical and mundane through the use of magical wards and traps.

What Ionor could not understand was how 6 thieves had so easily broken into the wizards tower, warded as it should have been, then killing him without alerting him or his magical constructs in any way. Another reason for her slight nervousness was that at 100 years old she was hardly the most experienced ranger available, but the council had chosen to send her on this quest, to avenge Bartimeus but more importantly to retrieve the amulet before it could fall into the wrong hands, alone and without any real support. Cursing the elders that made up the council under her breath, she notched her arrow into her bowstring as the clearing and its contents became fully visible to her. Breathing in gently, she cleared her head of her thoughts as she drew back the string, lining up her vision with the largest of the men present, the one who looked the most heavily armoured in half plate armour and sat next to a large two handed sword. He and two of the others were sat by the fire, drinking quietly, one armed with a short bow and the other seemed to be covered with daggers adorning his chest and upper legs. She assumed the others were in the two tents that were set up sleeping, and the ones by the fire were actually meant to be standing guard, lazy fools would pay for their incompetence now.

With a silent prayer to the spirits of the forest, she loosed her first shot, hand already going back and drawing the second arrow even as the first embedded itself in the large man's neck, his face a rictus of shock and pain as he fell gurgling, his two companions jumping to their feet shouting loudly as he did so. Ionor remained calm, firing her second shot as precisely as the first, embedding itself in the dagger man's chest and sending him sprawling into the fire, screaming in pain. As she reached back into her quiver for the third arrow, she heard the sound of movement rapidly approaching from behind her. Turning, she just caught sight of a mans angered face, his beard aglow with the firelight as his mace slammed into her chest, sending her flying into the clearing. The pain was terrible, and she was amazed she didn't pass out instantly; she knew she had at least three broken ribs from that blow. Dazed as she was, she was unable to react quickly enough to draw a weapon as the large bearded man stomped forward, covered in furs and leathers, followed by a leaner man with chain armour and two swords drawn and ready. The large man knocked her bow out of her weakened grasp as she tried to stand, grabbing her neck and slamming her heavily into a tree, ignoring her pained scream that came unbidden from her lungs. He raised his mace once more, snarling furiously as he did so.

As he reached the peak of his swing, there was a swishing sound followed by a meaty thud, the man in front of her pausing, his face transforming to that of shock, dropping her heavily before toppling to his left, revealing a throwing axe embedded in his spine. The bow wielding man drew back the arrow on his bow worriedly for a moment before turning and sprinting into the trees away from where the hatchet had come from, whilst the sword wielding man looked around warily. It was at that point that Ionor noticed the presence of a girl amongst the group, a human from the looks of it, scrawny and ill dressed, trying to make herself as small as possible throughout the entire proceedings. Out of the forest strode what could only be a dwarf, standing at about 5 foot tall, but as wide as an ox at the chest, with more muscle than any human blacksmith could claim. In one hand he held a halberd, one that was at least a half foot taller than him, whilst in the other he tossed another throwing axe, almost playfully.

The sword wielder charged towards his now visible opponent, swords twirling in a semi-decent show of skill. The dwarf merely scoffed, burying the hatchet in the ground next to him as he grabbed the haft of his halberd with both hands. The human reached attacking distance and swung both swords overhead, evidently trying to kill the dwarf in a single blow. The Dwarf simply rolled beneath the blows, coming up behind and to the left of the bandit, halberd swinging. A moment later the bandits head hit the forest floor, the man's body following soon after, the dwarf already moving towards the girl and Ionor, the girl raising her arms in surrender, and to show that she was unarmed. Nodding the dwarf turned to Ionor, whose vision was fading as the Adrenaline wore off and the pain set in. The last thing she saw was the dwarfs face, set in a grim smile as he knelt next to her.


	2. Chapter 2: The plan of recovery

**A/N:** I do not own anything related to the warhammer universe other than the characters that I have created in it. I would also like to warn all the readers, before they complain having read the chapter that Alexis' condition will be explained later on, this will not be one of those stories where everything becomes clear to the reader straight away, you will learn as the characters do, or that is the aim anyway. Anyways, hope you enjoy it. If there is something you don't like about it, leave me a review and tell me what it is, it's the only way I can improve.

**The Dwarven Effect, Chapter two:**

Previously:

_As he reached the peak of his swing, there was a swishing sound followed by a meaty thud, the man in front of her pausing, his face transforming to that of shock, dropping her heavily before toppling to his left, revealing a throwing axe embedded in his spine. The bow wielding man drew back the arrow on his bow worriedly for a moment before turning and sprinting into the trees away from where the hatchet had come from, whilst the sword wielding man looked around warily. It was at that point that Ionor noticed the presence of a girl amongst the group, a human from the looks of it, scrawny and ill dressed, trying to make herself as small as possible throughout the entire proceedings. Out of the forest strode what could only be a dwarf, standing at about 5 foot tall, but as wide as an ox at the chest, with more muscle than any human blacksmith could claim. In one hand he held a halberd, one that was at least a half foot taller than him, whilst in the other he tossed another throwing axe, almost playfully. _

_The sword wielder charged towards his now visible opponent, swords twirling in a semi-decent show of skill. The dwarf merely scoffed, burying the hatchet in the ground next to him as he grabbed the haft of his halberd with both hands. The human reached attacking distance and swung both swords overhead, evidently trying to kill the dwarf in a single blow. The Dwarf simply rolled beneath the blows, coming up behind and to the left of the bandit, halberd swinging. A moment later the bandits head hit the forest floor, the man's body following soon after, the dwarf already moving towards the girl and Ionor, the girl raising her arms in surrender, and to show that she was unarmed. Nodding the dwarf turned to Ionor, whose vision was fading as the Adrenaline wore off and the pain set in. The last thing she saw was the dwarfs face, set in a grim smile as he knelt next to her. _

**New Chapter, Begin:**

**Time Skip: Unknown**

Ionor came to with a gasp that quickly turned to a pained whimper as her chest was wracked with agony. Resting for a moment to take note of her surroundings and also to allow the pain to cease before she tried anything else, she heard a soft voice off to her left, quite nearby, and she opened her eyes slowly, noting the slivers of sunlight through the leaves over her head as she did so. Suddenly, the dwarfs face from before appeared in her vision, looking down on her disapprovingly. "Don't try and move now elf, especially sitting up, you has three broken ribs and another half a dozen badly bruised to boot, not including the bruising on your back and on your neck. Honestly, I don't know how you elves gave us such a challenge in the days of old, your all far to squishy. If you were like me we wouldn't currently have to travel to the only healer in these parts to get you fixed." It was at that point that Ionor belatedly noticed that the foliage above them was moving and shifting, and that when she breathed through her nose she smelt lumber and spices, both of which upset her on an instinctual level, plant life was just as sacred as human or animal life, that was what she had grown up on and around after all.

The idea of cutting down trees just to burn them made no sense to her, and offended her morals. However she knew it would not be particularly graceful of her to comment on that at this point and offend her saviour, that and her throat was on fire and completely parched. As if sensing this was her problem, the Dwarf ducked back out of her view for another moment before returning with a weird type of cup, made out of steel with a handle on the side of it of all things. It seemed to be filled with some type of frothy liquid, which she recognised as beer, a drink that was especially popular in Bretonnia amongst the common folk there.

The fact that they did so was hardly surprising, as the water in the lands of men was no-where near as pure and crisp as the waters of Loren, so they had to find other ways to make it safe to drink. She then felt a hand ease itself underneath her head and lift it slowly and gently, to the point it and her shoulders were at a 30 degree angle to the floor. Then the tankard was placed in her hands, and she was surprised with the sheer weight of the vessel, if not for the dwarf's hand, which ironically dwarfed her own slender ones, she would have dropped the thing.

She was surprised at how gently he guided the tankard and her own hands to the point where she could take a drink, the opposite to the attitude that he had shown earlier, and the attitude that she had been taught was commonplace with the race of stone dwellers, who lived in huge halls underneath the earth and despised elves of all kinds for a long passed conflict, as much as elves despised them for their blunt ways and disregard for nature.

He tilted it to allow her to sip a small mouthful, and the liquid surprised her, alighting taste buds that she didn't even know she had, it was slightly sour and bubbly, and if she wasn't so thirsty that might have given her some pause, but after the initial taste she gulped down more greedily, and couldn't help the welling of anger when the dwarf pulled the tankard away from her mouth. Seeing her obviously displeased expression, he sighed and hefted the tankard. "Trust me Elf, you do not want your first experience of alcohol to be more than a few sips of Bugman's beer, this stuff knocks us dwarves out if we have too much, I imagine you will start feeling the effects any minute."

She breathed in, readying herself to protest that she felt fine, when she found herself feeling very tired and slightly dizzy, but not in a bad way she mused. As she drifted off, she managed to utter the sentence she felt was the most important to impart at the short notice she had. "Thank you Master Dwarf, I owe you my life…" If her eyes hadn't already surrendered to the will of the alcohol induced stupor, she would have seen the dwarf grimace at her statement, before chuckling to himself for a few seconds before his face turned stony once more and his gaze turned to the other person in the cart, watching them closely.

**Time Skip: Unknown**

The next time Ionor awoke, she found herself looking up at thatch, which she quickly worked out meant she was inside a human dwelling. Whether that was a good or bad thing remained to be seen. She sat up slowly, surprised by the lack of protest from her ribs or back, and began to survey the room. She noticed the four other beds round the room, though from what she could tell only 2 had been slept in.

There was a fireplace blazing on the far side of the room with a door to its left side, and next to her bed was a small table and stool, and on it was a large glass of water, some bread and a yellow substance in a wedge shape that after wracking her brain for a moment she realised was the human food cheese.

Wood elf Custom dictated that she shouldn't eat anything that had passed through an animal in any form, having grown up in a forest and society that valued natural life it was a unspoken law, but with her stomach clenching painfully as she caught the smell of the food, custom was ignored in place of wolfing down the meal in front of her, savouring as she did so the new and interesting flavours that she was being exposed to.

She was almost finished, only a little of the cheese left, when a gruff cough from behind her caused her to jump slightly, cursing her complacency as she had lost track of her surroundings to satisfy her hunger. Stood in the now open doorway was the dwarf, and it was now in the light of the fire and fully cognisant for the first time since their meeting that she realised how burly her rescuer actually was.

Height wise he matched what she had been taught was an average height for a dwarf, being the same height as she was sitting on the low bed. It was the fact that he was easily wider than the doorway he was stood in that astounded her, him having to stand almost diagonally to fit properly. Her teachers had tried to describe the dwarves and their sheer strength to her, but she had never really appreciated it until now, he was easily twice her width at the shoulders, and each of his arms was thicker throughout their length than her waist at its widest point.

His hair was about shoulder length, braided into clean chestnut brown rivulets at the front to stop it getting into his eyes. His beard was similarly plaited, easily reaching his waist with thick metal bands and rings embedded or interwoven in it each covered in the dwarven runic script, 12 separate pieces that her eyes could count at a glance.

At his waist was stowed both the throwing hatchets that had saved her life during the ambush and the tankard he had allowed her to drink from, now obviously empty. She drew her eyes to his own, which were a much darker brown than his hair, and narrowed into a light frown as he observed her observing him, though he did not seem too uncomfortable with the assessment she was making.

"I see you are awake at last." He began gruffly, eyes belaying his hidden distrust for her and she suspected her kind in general, which she understood, dwarves always suspected that the elves were hiding something and plotting schemes at all times, regardless of what the elves themselves claimed. She nodded slowly, making sure to keep her hands where he could see them in the hope that it would help with his issues. "I am, but only thanks to you Master Dwarf, I thank you again for saving my life, I owe you a debt."

That caused the dwarf to pause, something flickered in his eyes for a moment at the mention of debts, Dwarves respected nothing more than honour, oaths, and honouring a debt owed to a dwarf, which was why Ionor had claimed she owed him one, it would probably help him trust her somewhat now he was obviously in the commanding position. He said nothing for a few moments, and she had to resist the urge to fidget slightly under his gaze, before finally he sighed, nodding, almost more to himself then her, before continuing speaking.

"In which case, you can tell me what you are doing more than 100 leagues away from the northern tip of that blasted forest of yours. Also, whilst you're at it, you can also explain why you went after a group of humans that outnumbered you, without properly searching the area first for guards or traps. By Grungi, I thought that ambushing was what you elves were good at, but you can't seem to do that properly."

She now understood what her mentors had meant by the bluntness of dwarven sarcasm, but she decided to ignore it for now, flushing nonetheless at the point that the dwarf had made, it had been a hasty decision on her part, trying to hurry her mission as much as possible in order to get back and impress her skill and efficiency to the Wardens of the glades. She grimaced, that plan had backfired royally, and ended up with her in the situation she was now. "I was on a mission on behalf of the Wardens, I was meant to be retrieving an amulet of great importance from the bandits I had ambushed, and they had stolen it from a long-time ally of our people, killing him in the process."

She shook her head, knowing without looking that the dwarf was sending her a disapproving look, which was not in any way helping her admit the faults she had committed. "I know I rushed it, but had orders to retrieve it and return before the coming winter, the sooner the better, and well, I just wanted to impress them."

She finished lamely, expecting the dwarf's mockery any moment, but was surprised when without a word he turned away and headed towards one of the used beds, from under which he pulled out a large rucksack, rummaging around for a moment before striding back to her and holding out one of his ham sized hands in a fist.

"This amulet, what did it look like? Would either of these fit its description?" He opened his fist and she found herself looking at two amulets, which he had evidently found on the bodies of the bandits. She shook her head sadly; neither fitted the description the wardens had given her, which given how distinctive such amulets would be, having no metal in them of course, left little room for accidently picking the wrong amulet.

Sighing, he stood and walked over to the door, sticking his head out and calling out. "Alexis, in here now, we have questions for you, and don't try anything." Straining her ears, Ionor was surprised when the human girl from the forest appeared at the door without making an audible sound.

Her hands were tied tightly with rope, and her legs were tied similarly, but more loosely to allow for some small movement. The girl's hair, raven black with a few flecks of white interspacing the mane, was tied back and whilst she looked frightened and nervous, it was obvious that she was otherwise unharmed. She bowed hurriedly when she saw that Ionor was awake, undoubtedly worried that Ionor would be angry after the events leading to her injuries.

The dwarf prodded the girl, who stood hurriedly and moved closer, before kneeling in front of Ionor, head bowed submissively. "Elf, this is Alexis, she claims that she was captured by the bandits at age 10, and that she has been forced to work for them since, in return for her freedom and one other condition, she has agreed to tell us everything she knows about the bandits, their leader and where their camp is."

Ionor looked down at the girl pityingly; she could not imagine what it would have been like to have been taken from her family at such a young age. The girl raised her head slightly at the silence, and noting Ionor's look of something other than anger, she spoke for the first time. "I am sorry about your injuries Mistress, Klein had taken me to ensure that we weren't being followed and to disguise the tracks we had made, and I commented about yours without thinking about the consequences." She looked away again embarrassed.

"If I don't notice something before Klein or the others do, I tend to get punished…"She trailed off, not wanting to speak further. "Anyways" the dwarf interrupted, evidently impatient and wanting to get the questioning over with. "Alexis, you have any knowledge about an amulet that your group stole from someone near the wood of Loren." The name of the forest evidently was unknown to the girl, but she nodded quickly. "Of course, that's what the boss sent us to retrieve after all, Hans had it, the one who ran away, and he will be making all speed to the hideout now. We are meant to be there in two days from now, knowing Hans he will be there by the eve of the morrow."

The dwarf seemed to ponder this for a moment, looking at Ionor before turning back to the girl, who had finally got the courage to raise her head for more than a few tense moments. "How many bandits will there be there? And could you lead us to this hideout?" "Us, What do you mean us?" Ionor asked confusedly, and the dwarf chuckled. "You owe me a debt now elf and I am not letting you run off and get yourself killed so you don't have to honour it. Besides, I have no current business I need to rush off to, and killing some bandits seems like a good use of my time."

Alexis looked up sharply at this before controlling herself and looking down once more. "There are about 50 bandits in total, but there are rarely more than 30 in the camp at any one time, the boss likes to keep raids going constantly to keep the gold flowing." The Dwarf nodded his head in understanding at that, and looked like he was about to turn away. Ionor spoke up before he could, determined to try and get to know something about her new companion " Master Dwarf, my name is Ionor Windfoot of Loren, may I ask your name?" The dwarf shook his head and held up his hand dismissively.

"I need not know your name elf and you have no right to mine. To do business with your kind, all I need to know is where you are, so I know where to watch for treachery. Now, I must go speak with the townsmen, be ready to leave in an hour." And with that he stomped off out of the room, leaving the two females alone. Sitting up completely, Ionor noted that her bow and equipment were at the end of bed, and swung her legs out of bed, standing to get ready. She paused however when Alexis spoke up timidly. "Why does Master not seem to like you Mistress? It makes no sense seeing as he saved your life and is now helping you on your quest." Ionor sighed and looked at the girl once more.

"The reason is an ancient one; dating back to before men was ascendant, simply a small barbaric race on the northern borders of the elfish empire that was where your empire now stands, surrounded by the dwarven fortress cities in the mountains. The Dwarves and Elves were great allies then, each with their own specialities and strengths, but then unfortunately, tragedy and deception lead to a great war erupting between the two races, with such carnage, death and betrayal on both sides of the conflict, and there are some wounds that cannot be healed by mere time alone it seems." Alexis nodded, and then rushed to her feet to steady Ionor when she stumbled slightly, her head aching from the movement.

"The priest said that you might be a bit unsteady at first, and that you were to avoid pushing yourself too hard." Ionor nodded and returned to readying her belongings. "How long was I out?" Alexis replied immediately, obviously having expected that very question. "Two days, well, this is the afternoon of the second day, you are tougher than the dwarf thought, and he thought you would not wake properly until the morning."

The news of her new companions demeaning expectations made Ionor sigh once more, evidently the dwarf had viewed her as inferior before she had awoken, and now he knew of her blunders and the reasons for them, his view could have only worsened, even if he would never actually come out and speak of it to her, he was polite enough to avoid that confrontation at least.

She was broken from her deprecating musing by Alexis' fidgeting, evidently wishing to voice a question but worried about how it could be taken. Finally with a deep breath that seemed to steady her, she voiced her query. "C-Could you please untie my hands?" She paused for a moment, before hurriedly carrying on "I swear I won't try and run away or anything mistress, but my wrists chafe so much, I will help you pack and everything better as well." She returned to fidgeting nervously as Ionor looked her up and down, looking for a sign of deceit, before sighing in relief as Ionor went to undo her bindings.

She paused when the dwarf's voice came once more from the door, having returned surprisingly quietly once more along the wooden floor of the building. "I would prefer if you didn't unleash her just yet elf, there are things that the girl hasn't been telling either of us, that you should probably know before you continue with your path of freeing her."

Alexis froze, her voice timid as she slowly turned to face the dwarf, who had advanced a few steps into the room, hands behind his back in a non-threatening manner, but a determined look on his face completely focussed on the young girl. "I-I don't know what you mean master, I told the truth with everything I said I swear." The dwarf chuckled and advanced another step, causing Alexis to step away from him and Ionor towards the corner, her face terrified. "I didn't doubt what you said; I just meant what you hadn't told us about yourself, Vampire…"

Ionor's head whipped round to face Alexis who backed away another step, her face that of shock. "H-How, how could you possibly have known master?" The dwarf advanced another step, raising one of his hands round to begin ticking off reasons using his outstretched fingers. "Firstly, you could see me the night of the ambush before I got anywhere near close enough to be seen by firelight, showing that you had unparalleled night vision, admittedly, by itself that means nothing, there have been cases of humans possessing that trait."

As the first finger went down he advanced another step, his other hand appearing, clasping a seal of sigmar and another seal, one of obviously dwarf origin firmly in hand, and causing her to back up even faster, hands moving up to cover face as best she could.

"Secondly, you have not slept or eaten since I captured you, yet you seem perfectly fine and awake, if a bit thin and pale for a human. Thirdly your hooded cloak, that you practically begged me to let you wear in the cart on the way here. Your sluggishness during the day, or when the priest was here to heal the elf."

He stopped at that point, having backed Alexis into the corner of the room, her arms pink and blistering as she squirmed and cried. "Please, stop, I beg of you, I swear on my life that I meant you or your companion no harm." The dwarf pulled back the seals, hiding it behind him once more. She collapsed to the floor, panting and sobbing softly, curling herself into a ball as the dwarf continued speaking.

"The only question I have yet to answer is the one of why you are still have, despite my confidence in my skill, there is no way I would have noticed if you had attacked me and then faked death at the ambush, then escaping once we had left, so why didn't you?" She did not answer for several long moments, causing the dwarf to sigh and begin to bring his hand round once more. Ionor surprised herself by shouting at him to stop, and Alexis looked up at her gratefully for a moment before abasing herself towards the dwarf once more, tears streaking her cheeks throughout.

"Please, no more pain, all I wanted was to get a chance to live a normal life, and to get revenge on the bastard that controlled me, that is all I wish I swear." The dwarf looked down at her form, then to Ionor, his face filled with sorrow, before he grimaced, throwing the seals to Ionor, who caught them deftly, and bending down to kneel next to Alexis. He reached out and his grimace worsened when Alexis flinched visibly before seeming to control her reaction and returning to her previous position, obviously a trained reaction to punishment.

"Alexis, look at me, I won't hurt you anymore, I promise." She looked up slowly, and upon seeing his sad expression, relaxed slightly and held up her bound hands, a small flash of hope entering her eyes before they became guarded once more. "Please master, I will be good I swear just no more pain." Ionor barely caught it, but she heard the dwarf choke as the girl spoke, before quickly untying the ropes on her hands, and then moving to do the same to her legs, and the girl sat up slowly, the pinkness on her arms healing slowly but visibly. The dwarf stood once more, his voice even gruffer than before if that was possible.

"How does he have control over you, there were no bindings or symbols at the camp when we captured you that could have affected you?" The girl looked down sadly "They have my elder sister, and if I do not return to them, they will rape her, before killing her slowly and painfully. They have threatened similar things if I should disobey them, and they shall make me watch them do so."

The dwarf's hands tightened into fists, and he seemed to have trouble dealing with the fact that the vampire, no the girl in front of them was nothing like the tales of the bloodthirsty monsters that Ionor had been taught about. "Your sister, is she also a…" Alexis shook her head violently "No, she is a normal human, not an abomination like me." She massaged her rapidly healing forearms gingerly, and then looked up, her face determined and eyes set on the dwarf.

"I am sorry for deceiving you Master; I just did not want to endanger my sister's life any more than it already was. My hope was to help you in dealing with the bandits so that you could rescue my sister, and then we could both escape far away. I meant either you or the mistress any harm, and I mean that." The dwarf turned away, and if Ionor didn't know better she would have assumed that he couldn't bear looking at the sight of the girl he had hurt any longer, strange how such a story can change your preconceptions about someone.

She spoke up instead, to save him the embarrassment. "It's okay Alexis, we believe you, we are sorry for not trusting your motives, but now we are all in this together, so we will save your sister, you have my word." Alexis grinned happily, leaping up and hugging Ionor, before doing the same to the seemingly frozen dwarf.

"Thank you, thank you so much, I will find a way to repay your kindness I swear Master Snorri and Mistress Ionor, now I must pack so we can head out." She then practically ran out of the room, the happiest expression that Ionor had seen on her face since they had met. The dwarf, who Alexis had called Storri, finally regained movement and shook his head, and as Ionor walked up beside him she saw a look of pure cold determination on his face.

"Elf, this is no longer about your amulet, understand? Each and every one of those bandits will die before we do anything else. Help me ensure this and I will consider our debt even." Storri then stomped off to the door once more, leaving Ionor to ponder what had caused the dwarf to have such hatred towards bandits that turned to slaving, and this was beyond a normal hatred for the trade. Shaking her head, she decided it was better not to ask, after all, it made her job that much easier if they succeeded in the dwarf's self-appointed task, or at least, she hoped it would.

**Time Skip: 1 day later, evening**

Looking down upon the bandit encampment, Ionor was suddenly glad that she didn't have to try and take this place by herself. There were at least thirty bandits scattered along the length of the small canyon they were based in, with a palisade gate and wall blocking the only way into or out of the place, or so they thought.

They were lucky to have Storri with them, as after searching the nearby area, he had found an old dwarven prospectors path, which intersected with the canyon about ¾ of the way down its length, and about 15 feet above the canyon floor. This allowed Ionor the perfect spot from which to shoot if their plan went pear shaped. About 40 feet to her left was a collection of tents, including the largest and most ostentatious one, which obviously had to be the leader's tent.

Next to that tent was a large awning covered cage, now doubt where Alexis' sister was being kept. The plan, as Storri had explained it to her, was relatively straightforward. He would rappel down into the canyon itself, sneak to the girl's cage, free her, bring her back to where Ionor would hoist her up, and then kill off the bandits whilst they were sleeping, before moving to those who would be guarding the front entrance.

Alexis was with a small force of town militia outside the palisade in the nearby woods led by the towns warrior priest Gunter the Red, who having learned of Alexis' identity had been initially borderline fanatical about purging the girl, but having questioned and tested her, had accepted her presence into the group begrudgingly, admitting that she had much less taint in her than the few feral vampires he had encountered before in the mountainous regions between the Empire and Bretonnia.

He had even gone as far as procuring some donated blood for her to gain sustenance from the townsfolk. The girl had accepted this gift gratefully, and had admitted that the bandits kept her constantly low on blood to keep her weak and malleable to their demands on top of the leverage they already had over her with her sister.

Ionor's job for the plan to succeed was simple and not at all dangerous, she was to cover him and provide support should he be detected and the bandits attacked in force. Obviously the dwarf had meant it when he had said he did not want her dying on him before she had a chance to repay the debt that she now owed him.

Storri gave her the signal that he was going to be descending, and she nodded, preparing her body and mind for a fire fight should the situation fall apart. With a prayer to the gods of the forest, she stood slowly, unhooking her bow from her back and drawing an arrow, ready to deal with these thieves and murders, once and for all.


	3. Chapter 3: A Culmination of bad luck

Previously on the dwarven effect:

_Alexis was with a small force of town militia outside the palisade in the nearby woods led by the towns warrior priest Gunter the Red, who having learned of Alexis' identity had been initially borderline fanatical about purging the girl, but having questioned and tested her, had accepted her presence into the group begrudgingly, admitting that she had much less taint in her than the few feral vampires he had encountered before in the mountainous regions between the Empire and Bretonnia. _

_He had even gone as far as procuring some donated blood for her to gain sustenance from the townsfolk. The girl had accepted this gift gratefully, and had admitted that the bandits kept her constantly low on blood to keep her weak and malleable to their demands on top of the leverage they already had over her with her sister._

_Ionor's job for the plan to succeed was simple and not at all dangerous, she was to cover him and provide support should he be detected and the bandits attacked in force. Obviously the dwarf had meant it when he had said he did not want her dying on him before she had a chance to repay the debt that she now owed him._

_Storri gave her the signal that he was going to be descending, and she nodded, preparing her body and mind for a fire fight should the situation fall apart. With a prayer to the gods of the forest, she stood slowly, unhooking her bow from her back and drawing an arrow, ready to deal with these thieves and murders, once and for all._

New Chapter

Chapter 3:

Persona Change: Storri Ironfist

It was a fairly safe statement to say that Storri the dwarf was not having a good day, in fact the entire season had been a long string of setbacks and let downs. The fact that he was now roping down, into a human bandit camp, by himself, with only a poxy elf for backup made this particular day by far the lowest he had fallen so far since he had stepped into the borderlands of the two human realms almost 3 years before. This was worse than even combating those godforsaken skaven abominations, which had been attacking a human mining colony due to its proximity to one of their smaller strongholds underneath the earth, all those years ago as a beardling in the grey mountains as part of a joint mission to rid the hold of its own rat problems.

Those battles in the darkened and shoddily built human mines had not been fun at all and had nearly cost him his life several times, either from the skavens trickery and deadly weaponry, or cave ins caused by the amount of fighting taking place there. Thinking back to the events that had lead him here however, he wondered what would have happened if he hadn't been so curious, whether he would have managed to avoid getting caught up in the difficulties he was now at least knee deep in, metaphorically anyways.

_*Flashback*_

He had been trailing a deer through the forests of the borderlands, to catch and cook hopefully, when he had come across tracks of a group of humans. Whilst these tracks had been interesting, being that far into the forest that few of the local villagers dared tread in case of bandits or worse, beastmen, what had actually garnered his attention was the very light tracks that had followed afterwards, almost imperceptible against the woodland floor.

These were not human made, the way the weight was placed on the foot was wrong, and he quickly came to the conclusion that it was an elfling, probably one of the woodland ones if he had to place his bet, his long experiences of the tall and arrogant race from the island of Ulthuan would not be able to track their foes so delicately.

Interest piqued, he had proceeded to follow the tracks, which continued for a good league or so before another three sets of tracks joined, one a heavyset human footprint, one a lighter middleweight human and the other a much smaller footprint with almost as light an imprint as the elflings, but from his hurried observation of weight position he guessed that one was also human. He heard a roar followed by a scream a short distance ahead, and charged forward, quickly spotting the campfire with the dead humans lying by it.

The other humans were stood in various positions on his side of the clearing, with the large one being stood over the fallen form of what he assumed was the elf, his mace rising, obviously intent on killing the figure in front of him. Storri acted on instinct, hand reaching for his hatchets with practiced ease, hefting the larger of the two and with two short steps to gain momentum, hurled the axe forward, it spinning furiously as it hurtled towards its target. His aim was true and the hatchet easily buried itself into the man's lower spine, the rune etched blade piercing the man's fur armour like it was parchment.

The man fell with a gurgle even as his three remaining companions reacted to the new threat. He was surprised that the girl's vision locked onto him straight away as he strode forward, though he cast that aside for disgust as the man by the fire turned and ran into the darkness, honourless coward. The other man however stood his ground, drawing two blades from his belt. Chuckling as he moved close enough into the firelight for the man to see, he decided to humour him and threw down his other hatchet that he had ready, instead grasping his halberd in both hands once more.

It was an unusual weapon for a dwarf to yield and he had for a time found its length to be unwieldy, but he had found that it had served him well often enough that even though he now could afford to exchange it for a more traditional dwarf weapon, he decided not to, it wouldn't be right. The human charged towards him, twirling his swords in an obvious attempt to confuse him about where the human would strike with his blades.

He groaned mentally therefore when the human, upon reaching striking distance threw that advantage away for a simple overhead strike. He sighed even as he rolled to avoid the strikes, halberd coming up in almost a reflexive swing to remove the man's head; he wasn't going to even get a challenging fight today it seems.

Standing, he assessed his next move, the elf looked badly injured and probably needed medical aid, and the human girl seemed to be doing her best to seem unthreatening to him in any way, obviously wanting to avoid his wrath after his killing of her companions, and with his attention on her she raised her hands slowly in surrender

Therefore he hurried towards the elf, who on closer inspection was a female of her race, and seemed to be falling into unconsciousness even as he knelt next to her, reaching into his belt pouch for a healing poultice he had become very adept at making over the years. With a grim smile he moved the elf gingerly and began to treat the injuries where he best found them. The nearest village was about an hour's walk away, two probably if he had to carry the elf there.

After treating the obvious wounds, he stood, turning to the girl, who had not moved since he had stepped into the clearing. "Girl, hands out now." She paused for a second, then complied meekly, bringing her hands out together in a way that allowed him to tie them easily using rope from his backpack. He would have tied her legs as well, but that would hinder rather than help. "You are not too run, understand? What is your name?"

The girl stuttered for a moment before replying more firmly. "Alexis master, please don't hurt me, I won't run, I promise." Storri sighed; the girl was obviously terrified of what he might do which was the last thing he needed. "Right, well, stay here whilst I check the bodies, then we will leave understand?" She nodded and he turned away, heading over to the fallen bodies and tents, not needing the light from the fire, his dwarfish vision more than capable of piercing the gloom and shadows given off by the dying fire.

After a few minutes searching, he had found 30 silver and various trinkets and jewellery that might be worth something to a merchant when he next found one to do business with. Suddenly Alexis called out, voice slightly desperate. "Master, please, the black cloak, it will keep me warm." He looked over, the large cloak easily capable of covering her head to toe with space to spare.

He shrugged, obviously she obviously held some sort of attachment to it, and with a quick check he confirmed that it contained no weapons or other devices. Picking up the elf as best he could, he turned to the west, which he knew the nearest track was located in, and walked off, the girl following a few steps meekly behind him.

_*Flashback end*_

After travelling to the village and working to better treat the elf and her injuries, he had been informed the nearest priest capable of healing such injuries was half a day's journey away, and that one of the villagers was headed that way with his cart and as such could offer a lift for the party of three. During the travel, the elf had woken up, which surprised him no end, most humans would have been out for days with the injuries the elf had taken, and they were far sturdier than elves.

The elf had then thanked him for saving her life before slipping back into unconsciousness once more. This left an unpleasant taste in his mouth as he considered it. His clan's book of grudges only had a small section on elves, having expunged most of the grudges in ancient times against the lithe folk, but there were still grudges to be fulfilled, and if he started saving elves from bandits, it would not help his goal to finish the book before his death occurred.

But what's done is done, and there was no way he was now going to abandon a job half finished. He sat back and took a long drink from the last of his bugmans finest beer, the greatest alcoholic brew in the world available to dwarfs, which no pathetic human ale maker could hope to compete with it on any level.

It was becoming harder and harder to procure now, ever since the destruction of Bugmans brewery by those thrice cursed goblins, so he enjoyed it whilst he could, better than it getting spilled or lost along the way. When he had finished, he gave the signal to the elf that he was going down, and began his descent into the cavern by shimmying down his length of rope that would also serve as the fall back exit if everything went to hell.

Reaching the cavern floor he landed quietly, and began his infiltration of the camp. He snuck past two tents before he came across his first bandit, facing away from him, looking away from him towards the gate, almost expectantly. This troubled Storri even as he snuck up behind the bandit, kicking his knees out and then covering his mouth to stop him making any noise before snapping the bandit's neck with his hands.

The bandit fell still and Storri dragged the corpse into one of the tents, which he checked to find it empty, and hid the body in there, hoping that no one would notice the disappearance until he was done with rescuing the girl.

He dealt with two more bandits before reaching the awning cage, but they did not seem to be doing anything that he would expect for a bandit group to do whilst in their fortress. They had had their weapons ready and seemed to be waiting for something or someone; he hoped it wasn't him they were awaiting.

Ducking under the cloth that covered the cage, he was not surprised by the number of religious seals that were placed around and inside the cage, which was large enough to fit a full grown bear comfortably. There was a ragged sleeping area in one corner, with a pillow and some thin sheets, whilst the rest of the cage was bare. On the bed area was sat a young woman with her hands tied and her clothes worn to the point of non-repair. She was as pale as Alexis, though Storri assumed that was to do with her prolonged lodgings in the pitch black cage rather than any particular family genetics.

He coughed quietly and the girls head shot up, looking round confused for a moment, and showing that her mouth was gagged as well. After she continued to look for him he felt slightly embarrassed, he forgot that humans couldn't see in the dark, and to remedy that little problem, he reached into his pocket and removed a set of matches. He struck one, causing the woman's eyes to dart to him, panic evident on her face. She rushed over to him, trying to say something through her gag to him hurriedly. He reached forward and helped to loosen the gag, allowing her to utter a single sentence. "Get out of here, they knew you were coming it's a trap!"

The words, uttered in a harsh guttural whisper that told him it had been a while since she had last actually spoken, kicked his senses into high gear, just in time to hear the rapid of approach of feet along the soft ground of the cavern. He pushed off at the last moment, shoving the woman back into the cage with his free hand as he rolled to the left. The tearing of fabric proved how deadly the situation was moments later, though Storri did not delay for a moment in his actions, straightening himself to standing as he rolled underneath the cover, hatchet drawn and ready.

The three spearmen that had just tried to skewer him had learned the folly of their actions, their spear points now ensnared in the thick awning material to the point they were still struggling to free themselves when he charged into them. His first blow caved in the nearest bandit's chest whilst his second removed the next bandit's hand, where he had been reaching to draw his short sword from his belt. As Storri finished off the second man the third abandoned his attempts to remove his weapon and turned to run instead. He barely made it 5 steps before he fell too, hatchet thrown into his back just below his left shoulder blade with ease at the short range he was presented with. Storri did not waste any time however, and rushed over to the corpse, wrenching his hatchet out of the corpse just in time for the sound of clapping to cause him to freeze.

Appearing from the large tent, along with a couple of the closer smaller ones, were almost 20 bandits with various armaments and armours. The one that was clapping was a tall thin man dressed in half plate armour with two short swords at his waist, face with noble like features dominating it as his silvery eyes observed Storri with a humour that he had not expected. The man stopped clapping as he reached the front of the pack, opening his mouth to speak. "This is not what I expected when Hans returned with stories of elves ambushing my raiding party. I certainly did not expect you to get past the gate… not that it matters, you will die here, and your friends are even now walking into an ambush that will end their pitiful resistance." He pointed at Storri imperiously. "Kill the dwarf, the one who does so will earn Rosco's and Hemman's shares!" And Storri knew even as the first three men charged him, eager for the reward, this was going to be the fight of a lifetime.


	4. Chapter 4: The rescue mission

A.N: Hi guys, sorry for the delay in updating, but I hit a sudden block in where I wished to go with the story, can you guys tell me what you think? I am thinking of re-doing the first chapters again anyways, having reread the story, there are a few things I would like to change, but that will come later, for now, on with the story!

Previously on the dwarven effect:

_Appearing from the large tent, along with a couple of the closer smaller ones, were almost 20 bandits with various armaments and armours. The one that was clapping was a tall thin man dressed in half plate armour with two short swords at his waist, face with noble like features dominating it as his silvery eyes observed Storri with a humour that he had not expected. The man stopped clapping as he reached the front of the pack, opening his mouth to speak. _

"_This is not what I expected when Hans returned with stories of elves ambushing my raiding party. I certainly did not expect you to get past the gate… not that it matters, you will die here, and your friends are even now walking into an ambush that will end their pitiful resistance." He pointed at Storri imperiously. "Kill the dwarf, the one who does so will earn Rosco's and Hemman's shares!" And Storri knew even as the first three men charged him, eager for the reward, this was going to be the fight of a lifetime._

New Chapter

Chapter 4:

The first man to reach striking range of Storri was a huge hulking brute, unarmoured apart from a pair of heavy furred trousers and bare chested, his weapon a gigantic metal tipped club that was easily three quarters of Storri and probably weighed as much as Ionor. The blow was a wide sweeping one that Storri easily ducked under and his response was a swipe that opened a deep wound in the man's midsection that caused him to collapse trying to hold in his insides, before shifting to dodge a thrust from a man armed with a halberd that was similar to his own, though admittedly almost a foot longer than his armaments.

This man knew how to wield his weapon, and Storri was on the defensive constantly from his probing sweeps and thrusts. The other man was trying to flank him in a very obvious manoeuvre, and whilst the remaining men were being more cautious about charging forward after his display of dealing with his first attackers, he knew this was only a temporary act and that if he did not act boldly soon, he would be quickly mobbed by the bandits.

He did however have a surprise for them, and with a whispering sound upon the wind, Ionor made herself known to the conflict by felling one bandit and then a second, aiming as they had agreed for those that were armed with ranged weapons, the first being the man who had fled from the encounter that had been the start of this adventure, Hans falling with an arrow in his neck and the man next to him barely managed to react to the felling of his companion before a similar arrow impacted into his chest, sending him to the floor with a gurgle. The leader of the bandits subtly ducked back amongst his men to hide from where the arrows seemed to be coming from, under the guise of pushing them forward to fight the dwarf. This was proved to be a sensible action a moment later when another arrow whizzed down and struck a large man in the shoulder, which coincidentally was where the bandit leader had been stood before he had moved himself back into the group of bandits.

The bow fire quickly led to many of the bandits panicking and trying to take cover or move round Storri and head off in the direction of the arrow flights in an attempt to find the archer. The two fighting him also reacted favourably for him due to the archer fire, with the halberdier becoming more risky with his attacks as he obviously wished to kill Storri quickly and get into cover before the archer decided to shoot him next. In the end this was what proved to be the bandits undoing as he slipped on the bloody ground that was caused by the blood that was still spilling from the other bandits corpses that had already been felled, and Storri charged forwards, getting inside his weapons effective range, intent on a killing blow as the halberdier desperately tried to fend him of from a kneeling position.

The other bandit tried to protect the halberdier, but by the time he had reached them Storri had removed a good portion of the halberdiers skull with his hatchet and was turning to face his last attacker, whose sword, whilst obviously well used, was in good condition and well maintained, and he was as skilled with it as the halberdier had been with his weapon of choice by the way he deflected Storri's initial strike to the side with minimum effort before riposting to open a wound in Storri's offhand shoulder, his blade piercing the leather armour easily. The two struck forth at each other several times in quick succession, Storri breaking from the combat as another bandit threw himself at him in an attempt to strike him down. Storri dodged easily and struck the man as he landed.

Around him almost a dozen of the bandits had now fallen either badly wounded or dead to the arrows of Ionor, so there was the man he was facing, the leader and three others remaining. Remembering the man's words about the militia Storri waved his free hand over his head, wincing at the pain his shoulder wound generated from that action. "Elf, the militia, go to their aid, I will take care of the rest of these and get the girl." There was not a verbal reply but he knew the elf would listen to him, she was faster than him across the ground so was the best one to break off the engagement. The leader seemed to gain a bit of his bravado back at this statement and came out from where he had been crouching hidden behind some crates, the last of his lackeys falling in unsurely behind him on either side.

The swordsman had stayed in between Storri and where the arrows had come from; rightly presuming that had been where Storri had come from and thereby cutting off his means of escape. The leader spoke now, having drawn his own blade, which Storri noticed idly was imprinted with several minor runes that served little more than decorative and aesthetic uses, not that the human would know that of course. "I don't know how you got someone up there to cover you, not that it matters now, with them gone we will end you here, and then go deal with the remaining militia. It's not like you stand a chance with the odds of four to one."

Storri snorted, and then threw his hatchet, burying itself in the man to the leaders left, the man falling backwards pitifully as blood spewed from his lips. "Sorry, I thought you said something there about outnumbering me." The other lackey snarled and raised his crossbow. "You will pay for that, dwarf filth." Storri pretended to be scared, taking a step back to steady his stance as he palmed his other hatchet subtlety as the man aimed. The swordsman behind him noticed this and raised a hand in warning. "Kill him now!" It was too late, whilst the crossbowman had been spewing threats Storri had acted, swing his arm up in a single motion he threw his hatchet even as the man finally fired his weapon, the bolt cutting a shallow cut in his cheek as his hatchet flew true and split the man's head in twain. As one the swordsman and leader charged towards him as he recovered and reached for his halberd, hoping that whilst he finished off here, the militia were not suffering too badly at the hands of the other bandits.

Persona Change: Ionor Windfoot, wood elf of Loren

Rushing as fast as she could down the outcrop and out into the highland area that surrounded the camp once more, it took Ionor no more than four minutes to reach the point that they had told the militia to wait in, but even at such pace the area was a massacre by the time she arrived. The militia had obviously been caught unawares by the attacking bandits, and without the chance to form up in their regulated formations as they had trained to do many times, they had been easy prey for the bandits. About three quarters of the militia were either dead or badly wounded whilst there were still 30 odd bandits to be dealt with; the remaining few were marshalled around the warrior priest, whose hammer had been a weapon of vengeance, if the dead bandits in front of him were anything to go by. Without waiting for an invitation to the conflict Ionor drew her bow and aimed her first shot. By the time it hit its target another was in the air.

With her support all of a sudden the bandits were on the back foot, searching for the new attacker. It did not take them long to find her, as the cover in the area was very sparse and made of rock, terrain she was not used to fighting in at all. Even so, by the time they had found her, she had dropped 6 of the bandits, and two more fell as they moved to tried to surround her. Just when Ionor felt she was in danger, half a dozen bandits with shields slowly hemming her in as their comrades continued to harass the militia, Alexis struck from behind Gunter. Whipping her cloak at the attacking bandits, two of them reflexively went to strike it out of the way, which was the only opportunity she needed. Slipping under the cloak as the pale sunlight began to burn her she drew two daggers that she slipped straight into their lower stomachs before rising back into the cloak in a display of supernatural ability that only a vampire could manage.

The other bandits struck out at her but she dodged and deflected all of their blows, slipping through them and racing to Ionor's aid, catching the closest bandit that was assailing Ionor unawares, dagger buried in the man's skull as she moved past him to stand next to Ionor defensively. Her appearance was the straw that broke the bandits resolve and son the remainder had either surrendered or fled off into the more lowland treeline, the militia were in condition to pursue them of course, the few still standing quickly beginning to treat their wounded as best they could.

After ensuring that the bandits had indeed fled and weren't just waiting in ambush, both Ionor and Alexis turned and ran to the camp entrance, if any of the bandits headed back there, Storri might be in even greater danger than he had been when Ionor left to aid the militia. Reaching the doors to the camp, they came to a halt, eyes darting to the makeshift battlements warily. Then the gate began to open inwards, causing both females to ready their weapons. However from the gap came the girl who was obviously Alexis' sister, simply from the way that Alexis dropped her weapons and ran forward to hug her desperately, not to mention the similarity in looks.

Ionor's eyes were drawn to the second figure to exit the camp, limping badly with bandages covering a good portion of his head and his torso. Storri obviously noticed her looking and grinned weakly, a small amount of blood leaking from his mouth as he did so. "Well, I got all my targets, so I will leave searching the camp to you elfling…" With that he trailed off, collapsing to the ground with a thud, grin never leaving his face as he did so. Ionor's only hope was that Gunter the priest was still in a happy enough mood with them to heal Storri as well as the other militia that had fallen this day.


	5. Chapter 5: Consequences and Revelations

_Previously on the dwarven effect:_

_After ensuring that the bandits had indeed fled and weren't just waiting in ambush, both Ionor and Alexis turned and ran to the camp entrance, if any of the bandits headed back there, Storri might be in even greater danger than he had been when Ionor left to aid the militia. Reaching the doors to the camp, they came to a halt, eyes darting to the makeshift battlements warily. Then the gate began to open inwards, causing both females to ready their weapons. However from the gap came the girl who was obviously Alexis' sister, simply from the way that Alexis dropped her weapons and ran forward to hug her desperately, not to mention the similarity in looks._

_Ionor's eyes were drawn to the second figure to exit the camp, limping badly with bandages covering a good portion of his head and his torso. Storri obviously noticed her looking and grinned weakly, a small amount of blood leaking from his mouth as he did so. "Well, I got all my targets, so I will leave searching the camp to you elfling…" With that he trailed off, collapsing to the ground with a thud, grin never leaving his face as he did so. Ionor's only hope was that Gunter the priest was still in a happy enough mood with them to heal Storri as well as the other militia that had fallen this day._

Chapter 5: The dwarven Effect

Consequences and revelations:

Storri woke groggily, head pounding in a way that reminded him of the time that he had challenged a travelling troll slayer to a drinking contest in the human city of Nuln. It had been halfway through drinking his fortieth beer that Storri's memory of that night fades, though according to the barkeeper at the inn that this had happened in, he had finished another dozen drinks before collapsing comatose to the floor. The next morning the slayer was gone, paying for the astronomical bill the two had built up, even though it should have been Storri's to pay as he lost the contest, something that Storri could not accept, as his honour had effectively been wounded by the insinuation that he could not afford to pay his debts.

Shaking off the feelings of nostalgia he opened his eyes, finding himself inside a human house, based off the shoddy architecture and the height of the door leading from the room. He attempted to sit up in the bed he had been placed in, only to shout out as pain erupted from his side. Looking down he found his abdomen covered in bandages, an ugly looking slice in the left hand side of his stomach area visible over the top of them. There was sounds of movement outside the door and a second later an elderly man, with glasses and thinning white hair, entered the room and upon spotting Storri's wakefulness walked over quickly, speaking excitedly. "Good morning herr Storri, I am glad that you waken. Try not to move too much, your wound was quite serious, even for a dwarf, the blade that dealt it to you left several slivers of metal deep inside it, and I had to operate to remove them. Luckily, this is not the first time I have operated on a dwarf..." Storri cut him off with a croaky voice, asking a simple question. "How long have I been out, and where are my companions?"

The girlish chuckle from the door told Storri where the first of said companions were. Appearing through the door frame with only a duck of her head, Ionor approached him with a smile on her face. "Companions are we now? With how you acted before you would have thought we were rivals at best." then the smile dropped from her face and she looked at him worriedly. "We were quite worried for you, after the first day father Gunter confirmed that the wound contained a poison and that there was nothing we could do but wait it out..." Storri sighed before growling out the same question once more. "How long?" the doctor spoke this time before Ionor could aggravate his patient any more than she already had. "You have been under my care for four days now, from what Gunter has told me, it was quite a fight you took part in. After tending to the wounded as best he could and sending the militia back towards the town, he and your companions entered the fort. I imagine they have things to discuss with you in private, so I will leave you to yourselves whilst I prepare a poultice for his wounds."

With that the doctor headed to the door, pausing to allow Alexis and her sister in before leaving and shutting the door lightly, leaving them alone. Looking at the two of them now, Storri was surprised at how similar they actually looked when placed next to each other, Alexis being slightly taller, but her sister having the fuller figure, even with the obvious signs of being underfed. Both were very pale, though Storri imagined being stuck in a dark cage for god knows how long would do that to the best of possible tans. Alexis rushed over to him and engulfed him in an awkward but heartfelt one armed hug, her sister following more gingerly behind her. After ten seconds and no sign of the girl flagging, Storri decided enough was enough and spoke up gruffly. "Enough woman, just because you humans love your physical contact doesn't mean that you have to hold me like a baby." that had her jumping away from him like he was on fire, and the shamed look on her face made Storri feel more than a bit guilty at his statement. "Sorry lass, I did nae mean anything bad by what I said, it's just that we dwarves don't do that sort of thing, it makes us rather uncomfortable if I'm honest." Ionor's eyes lit up with mirth at this, though why he couldn't work out.

Alexis' sister coughed politely at this point, bringing the attention firmly back to her. She curtsied in the typical empire manner towards Storri before speaking. "As my sister has obviously forgotten all of her etiquette with having lost her soul, I will introduce myself. I am Tanya Leica, the younger sister of Lexi here, and I owe both of you a debt for freeing me from those bandits and my sister from her servitude as you did." at this point Storri remembered the other reason that they had attacked the bandit camp, and his gaze shifted to Ionor once more. "Speaking of the bandits, please tell me we found the amulet you wanted in the camp." Ionor saddened at this and shook her head in the negative. "We searched the camp quite thoroughly, and whilst we found almost 100 silver and various other minor treasures, the amulet was not amongst them. We did find these papers amongst the leader's effects, though there were several pages in a strange script we did not recognise, we were wondering whether you had any idea of the language being written." She produced a sheaf of papers from her bag, and brought them across to him, handing them over gingerly to him. Reading the first few sheets, he kept noting the reference to 'the hooded one' who would regularly send the leader letters, and after the messenger had provided a translation for the first few, he had picked up the rest of the writings easily enough.

There were also references to his boss, who would demand regular amounts of 'the substance' to be delivered to his men in Nuln for further projects. Turning the page, Storri came across the first of the coded pages, and he dropped the sheaf in shock, before his jaw tightened and his face turned red, glaring down at the exposed page. "Master Storri, what is it, do you recognise the script being written there?" Storri nodded slowly, even as he reached out and grasped the pages once more, his eyes flickering across the script. His tone changed as he finally found his voice, his previously controlled accent returning in full force. "Aye lass, I recognise this script, and I'm nae surprised that yea did'nae recognise it, for it is the script of the foul ratmen, the skaven of the thrice cursed horned rat."


	6. Chapter 6: Rituals of Evil Intent

**A/N; Sorry guys, but I am now occupied with academic work for the near future, but rather than simply wait until Christmas or my next foreseeable break in my timetable, i decided that you guys deserved another chapter, even if it is only a progression chapter into my next arc. Thank you for all those that reviewed, it is you guys that make me want to continue scribbling away with my work when i hit the blocks in where next to take the story.**

_Previously on the dwarven effect:_

_Alexis' sister coughed politely at this point, bringing the attention firmly back to her. She curtsied in the typical empire manner towards Storri before speaking. "As my sister has obviously forgotten all of her etiquette with having lost her soul, I will introduce myself. I am Tanya Leica, the younger sister of Lexi here, and I owe both of you a debt for freeing me from those bandits and my sister from her servitude as you did." at this point Storri remembered the other reason that they had attacked the bandit camp, and his gaze shifted to Ionor once more. "Speaking of the bandits, please tell me we found the amulet you wanted in the camp." Ionor saddened at this and shook her head in the negative. "We searched the camp quite thoroughly, and whilst we found almost 100 silver and various other minor treasures, the amulet was not amongst them. We did find these papers amongst the leader's effects, though there were several pages in a strange script we did not recognise, we were wondering whether you had any idea of the language being written." She produced a sheaf of papers from her bag, and brought them across to him, handing them over gingerly to him. Reading the first few sheets, he kept noting the reference to 'the hooded one' who would regularly send the leader letters, and after the messenger had provided a translation for the first few, he had picked up the rest of the writings easily enough. _

_There were also references to his boss, who would demand regular amounts of 'the substance' to be delivered to his men in Nuln for further projects. Turning the page, Storri came across the first of the coded pages, and he dropped the sheaf in shock, before his jaw tightened and his face turned red, glaring down at the exposed page. "Master Storri, what is it, do you recognise the script being written there?" Storri nodded slowly, even as he reached out and grasped the pages once more, his eyes flickering across the script. His tone changed as he finally found his voice, his previously controlled accent returning in full force. "Aye lass, I recognise this script, and I'm nae surprised that yea did'nae recognise it, for it is the script of the foul ratmen, the skaven of the thrice cursed horned rat."_

Chapter 6: The dwarven Effect

Puzzles and Rituals of Evil intent:

That statement certainly brought an interesting set of reactions to the forefront, Ionor gasping in slight horror, Alexis looking worried, whilst Tanya looked confused and a little doubtful. It was Tanya that spoke first, her voice a little hesitant as she raised her query. "No offence master Storri, but i thought that the tales of the ratmen were merely that, stories and tales used to scare children who misbehaved at night?" It was Alexis that answered that, her voice soft and slightly hurt. "And that was what we thought about vampires as well until I was turned into one, or are you still trying to pretend that didn't happen?" Tanya looked a little guilty at that reminder, and rather than let the two argue any longer, Storri decided instead to focus on something more productive. "Enough you two, we can have this little argument later. Luckily for us, this script is based off of an old dwarven mining code that we used before we began to war with them and we worked out they somewhat understood what the symbols meant. Do we have any paper and ink? I will need to refresh my memory of dwarfish writings, it has been a long time since I have needed to use or understand the language of my hold in any detail."

And a long time it had been, almost two centuries now since he had last set hammer and chisel to stone for the purpose of carving a word, and even longer that as a prospector he had learnt the language of the ancient dwarves whose roads he travelled in search of buried treasure and hidden burial mounds that might have remained untouched due to defensive rune wards or by mere luck. Alexis broke him out of his thoughts by replying to his question. "I don't think we possess any, but I think that Herr Doctor might, I shall go and ask him. Will you be needing anything else master Storri?" thinking for a moment, he felt the hunger of one who has been asleep for too long and knew that if he were to be at work this day, he would need nourishment. "My beer, if it hasn't been stolen or drunk yet, and whatever vittles that the good doctor will allow me, I will need concentration for this, and for that I need sustenance." Alexia nodded and Tanya followed her to help her bring it all back, the two conversing quietly amongst themselves as they did so, and their tones suggesting that they had returned to the vampire point that they had been arguing over once more.

The two waited in silence for a few moments before Storri remembered something else. "Did you fetch my hatchets? They were of far too good a quality for me to try and replace out here away from a good dwarven smith. Also, what are the results of the battle, how did the humans fare against the bandits?" Ionor shook her head sadly. "Even with the priest and Alexis there, the militia lost 8 men and another 6 badly injured, if not for my arrival I think they would have been overrun and those losses would have doubled at best. We have used the bandits weapons and armour to better equip the militia in future, though I took the liberty of retrieving you weapons for you, as well as a short bow and a dozen arrows for Tanya to use whilst she travels with us, as if you are correct and it is the ratmen that requested the amulet to be stolen, from your reaction I am guessing that we shall be travelling somewhat further together still." Storri nodded his thoughts on a similar path of thought. "Aye, at some point I will show you my holds book of grudges; in there I have more than enough to settle with the verminous bastards." With that he settled back, the girls returning quickly with the things that he had asked for. Setting up a board upon his knees he quickly began inscribing the words that he knew onto the paper, the few that was at any rate, before losing himself slowly into his old work for the first time in an age, his mind casting itself back to a lighter time, before the time of ruin and fire that cast him out onto the upper world away from his home.

Ionor watched Storri work with respect bordering on awe. The gruff dwarf that she had met in the forest had seemed little more than a simple warrior whose only attributes had been his fighting skills. But here he was showing a side she had not expected, that of a scholar or workman, scribing away at a fervent pace. Several times she had heard him humming what sounded like the children's songs she had sung in her youth, only deeper and rougher of course. On other occasions he had grabbed a separate sheaf of paper and written several similar symbols on it, muttering his way through each of the possibilities several times, sometimes choosing one only to later curse to himself and go back, changing it to a new symbol before re-reading the section.

It was well past midnight when he finished translating the most recent letter, having first converted the skaven symbols into dwarf runes and then into human script, placing it down with a grave look on his face. He handed it to her and she read each slowly, having only rarely had to use the language in its written form, it was somewhat of a similar challenge to the one the dwarf had. The first letters were fairly basic, though worrying nonetheless. It spoke of the writer understanding the leader's interest in obtaining warpstone, and that in return for work that the writer wished to be done discretely, the warpstone could be delivered to the bandit boss. The next letters detailed job requirements, hitting merchant convoys on the route to Bretonnia, dealing with local resistance. The final letters explained the look on Storri's face. It first spoke of the need of the amulet she was meant to retrieve, and that should it be acquired from the tower to the south of the woods then great riches were to be had. The second part detailed that when an elf tried to retrieve the amulet, their body was to be brought to the Northern edges of the woods, where payment would be given in full.

"They plan to attack Loren? But why take the amulet if they are attacking from the north." Storri looked severely at her. "It's a classic skaven tactic, attack on multiple sides at once with overwhelming force from below. If I am correct, the amulet is already on its way to the south, so we should head that way as soon as possible and attempt to stop their plan there." That made sense, at least then they avoid bringing her to the northern edge of the forest, which is supposedly where the ratmen wanted her. "In which case we leave in the morning, I will talk to Gunter and see if we can use our portion of the treasure to hire a wagon and supplies, it will be quicker than walking." The voice from behind her made her jump and she was turning alarmed before she recognised the voice as belonging to Alexis. The girl was hidden in the dark recesses of the room, and judging by Storri's hastened breathing, he hadn't noticed her either. She smiled apologetically as she stepped forwards. "Apologies, very much force of habit, side effect of being dead is that is much easier to creep up on people I've found."

Storri laughed despite himself and Ionor found herself smiling as well, though she had to ask. "But why do you wish to come with us? You have your sister back now, you can go where ever you like. In fact I am sure that Brother Gunter wouldn't mind you settling here, your powers would greatly help strengthen the defence of the town." she shook her head "Both I and my sister owe you both our lives, it would be wrong of us to let your home be at threat whilst we sat and did nothing. Besides, if these things were responsible for the bandits needing my services" she licked her lips, exposing her pearl white fangs "then they are going to find out exactly why you don't mess with a vampire!" Ionor had to admit, the display had intimidated her somewhat, though Storri laughing behind her did ruin the effect somewhat. He spoke between his cackles "That's a good start, now all we need to do is find out whether you have any of that magic Vampires have, that always helps with intimidation, though no summoning of the dead you hear, that's just wrong." Alexis laughed for a moment before pouting. "Not even the bad guys? It would be nice to have someone else do the work for a change." the conversation descended into light hearted jokes mixed with much darker humour, but Ionor knew that she would not sleep that night, not if her home was on the verge of invasion by a dark force…


	7. Chapter 7: The end of an arc

_Previously on The Dwarven Effect:_

_Storri laughed despite himself and Ionor found herself smiling as well, though she had to ask. "But why do you wish to come with us? You have your sister back now, you can go where ever you like. In fact I am sure that Brother Gunter wouldn't mind you settling here, your powers would greatly help strengthen the defence of the town." she shook her head "Both I and my sister owe you both our lives, it would be wrong of us to let your home be at threat whilst we sat and did nothing. Besides, if these things were responsible for the bandits needing my services" she licked her lips, exposing her pearl white fangs "then they are going to find out exactly why you don't mess with a vampire!" Ionor had to admit, the display had intimidated her somewhat, though Storri laughing behind her did ruin the effect somewhat. He spoke between his cackles "That's a good start, now all we need to do is find out whether you have any of that magic Vampires have, that always helps with intimidation, though no summoning of the dead you hear, that's just wrong." Alexis laughed for a moment before pouting. "Not even the bad guys? It would be nice to have someone else do the work for a change." the conversation descended into light hearted jokes mixed with much darker humour, but Ionor knew that she would not sleep that night, not if her home was on the verge of invasion by a dark force…_

Chapter 7: The end of Arc one and flashbacks-

Dawn rose eventually, and with its first rays upon the ground so too did Storri, much to the complaints of both the doctor and Alexis. "For the last time Herr Doctor, I have suffered far worse than this and kept walking, by the ancestors all I wanted to do was stretch my legs!" He finished with a ill sounding cough but the Doctor was wise enough not to comment, instead moving off to finish packing medical supplies for the group to treat Storri's injury with whilst they were travelling. Alexis however continued to hover nearby, not offering help any further but obviously waiting in case he needed help underneath her new cloak seeing as the old one had been damaged in the fighting against the bandits. He spent the next fifteen minutes going through his weapon stances, wincing every time he over extended and his wound stung painfully, but soldiering on as his mind took him away to the last memories he had of fighting the blasted ratmen.

*flashback*

It was dark in the tunnels that the human villagers had dug into whilst trying to mine ore for their tools and weapons, but that suited Storri just fine, he was more at home underground than above it anyways. He had been down here for at least half a day now, having been in town to trade his prospector finds in return for food and shelter when the ratmen had poured forth from the mine workings and set upon the startled villagers. He had slain at least two dozen of the vermin before sighting one of their leaders, a taller more muscular creature dressed in ragged metal armour who was squeaking out orders from the rear of the mob. He took a step forwards towards it, shifting slightly as he did so to avoid the blade of one dressed in rags, cutting it down without a thought as he took another step, severing the arm of a skaven that tried to cut him off from advancing any further.

He managed another three steps before the leader noticed him, the orders becoming high pitched as the leader pointed frantically at him, leading him to be beset by almost a dozen of the foul things at once. He went down under the wave of bodies, felling two with hatchet blows even as he landed on the floor. Dropping one of his axes, he covered his face with his hand as one of the skaven tried to bite his throat with its teeth, waiting a moment before bursting into action once more, his free hand reaching up and grabbing the offending skaven by the neck even as his hatchet continued to hack into the mass above him. The creature flailed pathetically for a moment before he snapped its neck like a twig. Swinging the body like a club, the surviving skaven began to flee from atop him, leaving more than half their number dead and two more badly wounded, with only two light chest wounds and half a dozen bite marks to show for their mobbing tactic.

Seeing him survive and push his attackers back obviously gave the villagers strength as the skaven began to flee from the village where they had gotten past him, some dropping their weapons in their haste to escape. The skaven leader obviously realised that he was not going to win this battle and with several indignant squeaks turned to retreat back to the mine workings. It had been mere bad luck that Storri had not ended the damned things life there and then, his hatchet embedding itself in one of the retreating skaven that had pushed the leader out of their way in an attempt to escape instead of its intended target. With the threat still very real and present, the village leader had begged Storri to help them and pursue the surviving skaven down in their tunnels and bring back the head of their leader, then the villagers could collapse the mines without fear of another eruption of the foul things somewhere else.

In return for the food he had asked for and a good amount of prospecting trinkets that other prospectors had brought into the village, he had agreed and thus here he was now. Entering the tunnels he had travelled barely two hundred metres before the first skaven had attacked him, the thing without weapons or armour, eyes wide with fear even as Storri impaled it upon his halberd. The long blade had proved useful in the cramped spaces that he had steadily delved into, despite his difficulty in manoeuvring the curved blade part he could easily use the sharp point to keep the groups of skaven from trying to mob him until he whittled them down to a more reasonable size so that he could wade in with dual hatchets and deal death to the survivors. But now, he was reaching what he assumed to be the leaders hiding place, as the rats guarding the tunnel were getting bigger and better equipped, two of them wielding glaive like weapons stood at the entrance of what he assumed was a natural cavern, obviously waiting for him. These were calmer than the other skaven that he had faced, and as they struck out with their weapons towards him, it was obvious that they also had training to back up their lethal weaponry.

But even their training was inadequate compared to almost one and a half centuries of battle experience that Storri had at his disposal, and as he deflected one of the attacks, he saw his opportunity to end this little conflict. The right most skaven had over extended with his attack in order to protect its comrades back as the second skaven drew back once more, and Storri barrelled forward under the skavens guard and sent the thing flying into the cavern area. Its partner was distracted by the flailing skavens squeaking for a moment too long, allowing Storri to catch it under the armpit with his hatchet and end its pitiful existence before rushing into the cave, catching the other one in the back as it began to stand once more. Looking round the cavern, his eyes were drawn to the pair of eyes that were visible thanks to the glowing mushrooms that covered small sections of the cavern walls, ceiling and floor. It hissed something that Storri internally translated as an insult to his race and a damnation upon him for ruining the skaven's plans before the skaven strode forward with a sneering grin on its face, though that barely caught Storri's attention as he paid more attention to the huge shadowed mass that moved in unison with the leader skaven. His last thought as the rat ogre truly emerged from the shadows, growling and spitting in his direction with a frenzied look in its beady eyes, was that this job really wasn't worth what he was being paid for…

It was almost a day before Storri emerged back out into the light, chest wound gaping through his ripped leather armour and right arm broken in two separate places. But on his back he carried the head of the rat ogre and in his left hand, the bloodied visage of the commander skaven, and with a satisfied grin, he collapsed to the ground in front of the villagers that had mustered upon hearing of his survival, unconsciousness claiming him at long last.

*Flashback end*

He chuckled to himself as he swung the blade in a wide arc in front of him, which had been a day of reckoning for him, he had been able to strike off 4 separate grudges from his book with the body count of the verminous ratmen and he had been paid for the trouble as well. A cough brought him from his memories and turning to the door he found Ionor watching him amusedly. "Alexis roused me in the hope that I could persuade you not to do any more training in case it worsened your injury… But I told her that there was going to be no chance that you would unless there was a good reason to do so." Storri chuckled at the jab at his stubbornness, but decided that what he had practiced was probably enough for the time being and started walking towards the door, his grin only widening as he saw the shocked look on Ionor's face. "Well if you aren't going to come up with a distraction for me elf I will give you a job to do whilst I see what there is available for me to have for breakfast. I need you to go wake up Tanya and make sure she and her sister are getting ready, the sooner we get underway the faster we will deal with the damn skaven." Ionor nodded and turned on the spot, heading inside slightly in front of him, splitting off to one of the rooms on the left hand side of the corridor whilst Storri followed his nose to the second door on the right, which looked to serve as a kitchen, and beyond it was obviously the doctor's pantry…

It took them less than an hour to make ready, each member of the group used to travelling lightly and as such their wagon was barely a third full with kit, which led to the current little argument he was having, though the result of which was already obvious from where he was currently seated. "I am not some helpless little child you witch, I am perfectly capable of walking to our location, I have no need to rest in this forsaken wagon!" Tanya looked back from where she was driving the wagon and shook her head with a hint of amusement easily visible in her eyes. "Alexis asked that I make sure that you do not strain yourself whilst she and Ms Ionor went foraging and scouting, and the best way for you to rest is if you don't argue and make your wound worse Herr Storri. The sooner you get over your stubbornness and rest the sooner you will be healed and Alexis can stop worrying about you."

He huffed but heeded her kind but pointed order, after all she was right, it would be necessary for him to be at his peak for the fight ahead after all. Leaning back and looking up at the sky, obscured partially by the leaves of the woods on either side of the road, he realised that by the sun the two women had been gone for at least an hour now, which meant they should be back soon enough, depending on how far afield they had been forced to go to find anything of use. As if on cue he noticed a shadow jump down from the foliage at the side of the road, a cloaked Alexis stepping forward with a small deer over her shoulder and blood splattering her cloak. Ionor stepped out a minute later, moving at a light jog in order to catch up with them, a pair of rabbits in one hand whilst her bow in the other, a small grin on her face as she waved her catch at Storri. "These should taste nice; I have never had meat before!"

He shook his head at her simple pleasure at the new possibilities she was discovering even as the two reached the cart and dropped their finds inside it, Ionor loping alongside as Alexis jumped into the cart with him, stalking to the front to jump into the co-driver's seat. "He hasn't been much trouble I hope sister?" He growled at the fact that they were talking about him like he wasn't there and the two giggled at his annoyance. A moment later he sat back with a sigh and poured himself a small bit of beer; this was going to be a long trip.

**A/N: Just a quick update to get this story moving once more; a bit more interaction between the characters and some background on Storri for you guys to work with. Next Chapter will cover the start of the Brettonian arc.**


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